Cody Nicely
The Wittenberg men's and women's swimming and diving teams took
on a pair of NCAC rivals last weekend and came away with good
results in each instance, despite a loss Friday night at Wabash for
the men's team. The Tigers dropped a 135.5-107.5 decision to the
Little Giants, but the men and women came back home on Saturday to
post solid wins over Oberlin, 133-83 for the women and 128-75 for
the men.
In the meet against Wabash, one of the Tigers' main rivals for a
position in the upper echelon of the NCAC standings in the February
championship meet, senior Steve Rader (Concord, Ohio/St.
Ignatius) took first place in the 1000-yard freestyle and
100-yard butterfly. He was joined in the winners' circle by senior
Kyle Dunaway (Warren, Ohio/Howland) in the
200-yard Individual Medley, freshman Cody Nicely
(Knoxville, Tenn./Bearden) in the 1-meter and 3-meter
diving events, and senior Alex Berger (Findlay,
Ohio/Findlay) in the 100-yard freestyle.
Head Coach Leslie Ramsey described the meet as a positive one for
early in the season on the road, with several outstanding
individual performances, but she indicated that the team has some
growing left to do to reach its goals. Other fine swims were turned
in by sophomore Kevin McAninch (Canal Winchester,
Ohio/Lancaster), junior Blake Troxel (Norwell,
Ind./Bluffton) and freshman Matt Reiss
(Beavercreek, Ohio/Dayton Carroll), all of whom posted
season-best times in certain events.
In the Oberlin meet, Rader was again a two-time individual winner,
this time touching first in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard
butterfly events. Dunaway was a two-event winner in the 400-yard IM
and the 200-yard backstroke, while Troxel, Berger and Nicely also
claimed first-place finishes.
On the women's side, the story was sophomore Becca Searcy
(Shelbyville, Ky./Shelby County), who earned an NCAA 'B'
Cut time of 4:40.41 in winning the 400-yard IM. It was one of two
firsts she had on the day, the other coming in the 100-yard
freestyle. Freshman Jenny Mulligan (Cheyney, Pa./Delaware
Valley Friends) posted a victory in the 200-yard
breaststroke, sophomore Betany Yeakley (Wilmington,
Ohio/Wilmington) took a pair of firsts in the 200-yard
freestyle and the 200-yard backstroke and freshman Katie
Spittler (Carlisle, Ky./Lexington Catholic) and sophomore
Leslie Banas (Huntington Woods, Mich./Mercy) took
the top two spots in the 1000-yard freestyle with strong
season-best times.
Ramsey was pleased with the performances against Oberlin and
indicated the teams are now ahead of their oustanding pace of
2002-03. The next test is this Saturday at Hiram, followed by two
weeks away from competition and then the annual DePauw Invitational
Dec. 5-6.
Next: 11/22 at Hiram, 1 p.m.